Game Transfer Phenomena in a scholarly book about senses

“A lively and unconventional exploration of our senses, how they work, what is revealed when they don’t, and how they connect us to the world”.

Our Senses: An Immersive Experience by Robert DeSalle, Yale University Press.

DeSalle’s book is deep-dive into the evolution of our senses, very much recommended!

I’m excited to see that my research on Game Transfer Phenomena is mentioned in the book! Check out the chapter “No Limits: The Limits to What We can Sense and the Future to our Senses”

As DeSalle, an evolutionary biologist noticed in his book we spend at least half of our day staring at tiny and small screens or big to very big screens, not to mention how much time we expend interacting with digital simulations.

We have only started to understand how digital sensory stimulation affects our brains, what impact the images that have been engrained in our minds have on us, and how we even can take advantage of the sensory stimulation.

I’m happy to say that my research is contributing to settling down the bases and shedding some light on the understanding of the effects of the exposure to digital sensory stimulation and simulations.

“…Modern humans experience sounds, sounds levels, and range of sound that our ancestors never have to. How we adapt to this changed auditory world is also a subject ripe for study. Researchers have also tried to examine downstream neurological effects of sensory stimulation via video gaming. Psychologist Angelica Ortiz de Gortari has carved out a niche in this regard and has studied what she calls Game Transfer Phenomena as a result of intense game playing. For some gamers, their sensory experience are so intense (and their mental stats are susceptible enough) that they experience pseudohallucinations as a result of the gaming. They also incur visual aftereffects that can potentially cause them to misperceive the real world around them. It gets worse with more and more prolonged gaming, and it affects no t only visual and auditory sensory perceptions but tactile and perhaps olfactory sensations, too” (p., 261).

I’m super excited to interchange perspectives on my research #GameTransferPhenomena in my talk: “Transfer of Gaming Experiences: Considering the Impact of Game Design Beyond Gameplay” with the #videogames masters at Develop:Brighton in July! #ImASpeaker @DevelopConf

October 12th- University of British Columbia, Vancouver. “When the mind keeps playing after the game has been turned off: Game Transfer Phenomena”

October- Visit Brain, Attention, and Reality Lab, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

September 27-30 World Congress of Psychiatry in Mexico City. “GTP and problematic smartphone use in an augmented reality game” & “Can sensory intrusions and motoric activations caused by the use of technology become pathological?”

About Author

Dr Angelica B. Ortiz de Gortari is a psychologist. Currently, a Marie Curie COFUND Postdoctoral Research fellow in Cyberpsychology at the Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit at the University of Liège. Critical inquiry on the psychosocial implications of interactive media technologies has been her professional passion since undergraduate school when she conducted one of the first studies on internet addiction. Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) is her area of research expertise, for which she has won awards. Dr Ortiz de Gortari’s research has been featured in different media worldwide including New Scientist, BBC World Service, The International Herald Tribune, The Guardian, Discovery News, and History Channel News. Her research on GTP has also inspired an episode of the TV series CSI: Cyber. She has published academically and presented at several international conferences. The goal of her research is maximising the psychological and social benefits of interactive virtual technologies while reducing the potential risks it can present to some individuals.